The Present Disclosure relates generally to optical fiber cable assemblies and, more particularly, to a multi-fiber optical fiber cable assembly with an improved strain relief assembly.
When manufacturing optical fiber cable assemblies, is often desirable to arrange a plurality of optical fibers in one or more generally parallel rows or side-by-side arrays. Such arrays are terminated to one or more ferrules and then mounted in an optical fiber connector. In one example, the optical fibers within an optical fiber cable are pre-formed as a plurality of arrays or ribbons that extend the length of the optical fiber cable. Such ribbonized cables may be less desirable in some applications as they are typically larger and less flexible than cables having a plurality of loosely bundled optical fibers.
Cables having loosely bundled optical fibers require that the optical fibers be arranged and secured together to form the desired number of arrays of optical fibers. The process of creating the arrays as well as mounting the arrays within one or more ferrules and subsequently polishing the ends of the optical fibers requires that a length of the protective jacket that surrounds the optical fibers be removed. Accordingly, a structure for protecting the optical fibers is desirable.